Tales of Zestiria’s Alisha DLC Can Be Played Without Beating The Game

Bandai Namco have been taking plenty of heat from fans for their upcoming Tales of Zestiria DLC that features one of the heroines of the game. This week’s issue of Famitsu magazine shares more details on what to expect from the DLC. [Thanks, Game Jouhou.]

[Spoiler alert: those of you that want to play the game without knowing what happens ahead of time might want to stop reading this post now.]

To bring you up to speed on what the fuss is about regarding Alisha’s upcoming “Alisha After Episode DLC,” fans were rather upset about the fact that Alisha, one of Zestiria’s characters that many thought would be one of the main heroines and was marketed as such, abruptly leaves the party early on in the game and never returns.

Many fans kept playing in hopes that she’d return, but she never does, and it only took a week after its release for Bandai Namco to announce that her “after story” will be part of a 1,300 yen DLC episode that releases later this month. While it will be free for the first couple of weeks, many felt that the publisher had held her presence back in the main game so they could release her as content you’d need to pay for separately.

Interestingly, according to this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine, the “Alisha After Epsiode” can be played without completing the game; however, the party level will be adjusted accordingly. The episode is said to take place several months after Sorey gives a certain “answer,” which we can assume is a pivotal part of the story. In the DLC, Alisha stars alongside Rose, the character that replaces her in the main game, who saves her while she’s being attacked by radicals.

Alisha is more than happy to reunite with her friend, but for some reason, Rose acts cold, and doesn’t explain why; however, the radicals seem to have some sort of involvement with the Hyoma, so they work together toward a common cause.

Again, producer Hideo Baba reiterated his previous statement from a recent interview “We’ve never stated that Alisha is [the main] heroine. The [main] heroine is someone the player gets to decide. But I do apologize for the misunderstanding,” he said.

The “Alisha After Episode” will release in Japan on February 12, 2015 and will be free up until the 28th. Afterwards, it will cost 1,300 yen for the DLC.